Weighing impact of Vanderbilt's 2024 upset of Alabama on Diego Pavia's eligibility case

Alabama may have inadvertently been responsible for two of Diego Pavia‘s biggest wins last year. Vanderbilt‘s sparkplug quarterback became a household name after shocking the college football world by upsetting the then-No. 1 ranked Crimson Tide, 40-35, last October.

A little more than two months later, Pavia — a former junior college journeyman — achieved arguably the single-most significant legal victory for collegiate student-athletes that didn’t involve the House Settlement when the U.S. District Court of Middle Tennessee granted Pavia a preliminary injunction against the NCAA from enforcing its eligibility standards due to antitrust violations. The legal victory allowed Pavia to return for a rare sixth season of college football in 2025.

Pavia’s NCAA eligibility win in court was a first-of-its-kind and ushered in a series of subsequent eligibility cases and rulings throughout the offseason, several that went against the NCAA and others it won. And while it wasn’t necessarily in the ultimate ruling on Pavia’s case, at least one of his Vanderbilt teammates believes the Alabama upset certainly gave the Tennessee judge something to think about.

“It definitely played a big role because Diego (is) a marketing monster,” Vanderbilt junior defensive back/linebacker Randon Fontenette said. “I feel after that win they seen what Diego can bring to college football — the spark, the energy, the aura he can bring — that definitely played a huge role — maybe, maybe not — but I think it played a huge role in him getting that (extra) year.”

Pavia is far less certain about one game’s impact on his personal court case, but did acknowledge how much it helped put the Commodores on the national radar last season.

Diego Pavia evaluates impact of Alabama upset: ‘Winning solves anything’

“When it comes down to it, every win was important. And I think that one was (especially) because we finally got people to believe kind of in Vanderbilt football,” Pavia said. “So from here on out, obviously we’ve got to win more games to get the things done that we want. Winning solves everything.

“For my case, I don’t know, maybe ask the judge that one,” Pavia joked. “But I was just super fortunate that I got cleared to go.”

To what degree the Tennessee judge even considered the Commodores’ win over the Crimson Tide during his evaluation of Pavia’s case may never be known, but the impact the upset had on Pavia’s national profile and Vanderbilt’s confidence level can’t be overstated.

“After the Bama game, when we got that win, it showed us we’re here, we can play with anybody in the country,” Fontenette said. “We have to execute when it matters. And it really gave us hope and it gave us motivation.”

Much of that hope centered around their sky-high belief in Vanderbilt’s veteran QB, who enters the 2025 with an infectious swagger that has the ‘Dores believing anything is possible.

“Oh, yeah, Diego, he’s a different kind of player,,” Fontenette said. “His aura, his competitiveness, just his demeanor, how he carries himself, it really spreads light to the locker room.”

“He’s a dog. I mean, that win, it probably did boost (his case) a little bit,” Commodores junior cornerback Martel Hight said of Pavia. “But with that win or without that win, that guy is going to always come in and be the same person he is, and that’s passionate about what he loves.”